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Loading... Between the Lines: My Autobiography [Hardcover] (edition 2012)by Victoria Pendleton
Work InformationBetween the Lines: My Autobiography by Victoria Pendleton
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The Golden Girl of British cycling opens up, for the first time, in searingly honest detail about what drives her to compete in a sport she no longer loves. Written with Donald McRae, 2 time winner of the William Hill Award, "Between the Lines" is THE Olympic autobiography. Victoria Pendleton MBE is not your typical female athlete. Admired as much by the weekly glossies as she is the newspaper back pages, she transcends her sport. In 2005 she became first British female to win Gold at the cycling World Championships in 40 years. She followed it up with gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and another World Championship in 2007. Arriving in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games, Pendleton was on top of the world. She didn't disappoint. In an enthralling example of track cycling, Pendleton took Gold and joined the ranks of British Olympic heroes. And then it started to go wrong. Feted by the press and the public alike, behind the scenes the cracks and strains started to show. Despite retaining her World Champion status in 2009, it was a close run thing and her shield of invincibility started to drop. Victoria was falling out of love with her sport. The sport that had made her was starting to tear her apart. "Between the Lines" documents the considerable lows as well as the well-known highs and reveals why Victoria almost turned her back on cycling before rediscovering her Championship winning form in 2011, the day after suffering one of her most humiliating days on the track. Hitting the shelves within a matter of weeks from the end of her Olympic programme and written with Donald McRae, two time winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, "Between the Lines" promises to be the most honest and emotional book from an Olympian to date. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)796.62092The arts Recreational and performing arts Athletic and outdoor sports and games Cycling Cycle racingRatingAverage:
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Because of all this, I was really looking forward to reading her autobiography, and I must say that there were lots of things I enjoyed about it. More than many sporting autobiographies, it gives a strong sense of the amount of effort and dedication that has to be put into reaching the top of any sport. I also wasn't particularly surprised to find that she's had some serious psychological problems along the way - sitting in her room self-harming at a training academy probably being the low point - and I really felt for her at times, as well as being impressed that she's overcome an obviously fragile psyche to reach the top of her sport.
However, by the end of the book I just wanted her to stop whinging. I'm not sure whether it's her real attitude, or whether it's the way the book's been ghost-written, but the strong message coming from Pendleton on every page was that none of her (not inconsiderable) problems were her own fault. She seems to think of herself as a real victim, and as an outsider looking at the success she's had and the huge opportunities she's been given in life, I really wanted her to acknowledge how lucky she is and stop complaining about what she thinks other people think of her.
It's never happened to me before, but reading this athlete's autobiography left me thinking less of her than before I read it, and I'm really sad about that. ( )